Kukla's Korner Hockey

I sat up in the exam room at the hospital and stretched my arms, trying to get my brain to relax. It was only chest pains. Our team trainer had told me the night before that they were probably being caused by dehydration or a pulled muscle, and I told myself over and over again that he was probably right.

I was fine … right?

I mean, I played in the NHL. I was a New York Ranger. Injuries are part of the game. No matter how I was feeling inside, I was going to be cool. The nurses ran their tests, and I was sure that soon they’d be back to tell me that everything was going to be fine.

Except I couldn’t stop thinking about the blood.

The day before, I had woken up from a long nap and started coughing up blood in the sink.

When McDavid scored on a power play in the middle frame to make it 2-0, he skated towards Manning after a fist-pump celebration and the two exchanged some more words. After the game, McDavid let fly that the words he heard from Manning inferred that he’d smacked him into the boards on purpose last season....

“I did all I could defending him last year in the media. Everyone wanted to make a big deal saying he did it on purpose, and they wanted me to to say some comments today (morning) about what went on last year,” said McDavid, who shrugged it off after the morning skate as yesterday’s news.

But it was today’s news Thursday when they came together in the first period and words were coughed up.

“I thought it was one of the (most) classless things I’ve ever seen on the ice. He said some things. I guess we can put the whole if he did it on purpose thing to rest because what he said out there kind of confirmed that. Shows what kind of guy he is the way he doesn’t step up and fight some of our guys,” said McDavid, who had the power-play goal and helped set up Andrej Sekera’ shortie with some great board work in the second.

Manning was taken aback by McDavid’s not-so-friendly fire at him after the Oilers’ loss.

He firmly said last year’s violent crash with McDavid and himself was a hard play, gone wrong.

No malice intended.

“One hundred percent not. Anyone who’s seen the clip sees him catch an edge. I would never intentionally hurt someone. Anybody who knows me, knows I play a hard game, that’s the reason I’m in the NHL. I think I play an honest game,” said Manning.

• The Avs have a crushing need for two or three D-men—Erik Johnson is out about two months but a busted leg after Tyler Seguin nailed him with a shot— but goalie Semyon Varlamov at $6 million isn’t helping matters, being outplayed by backup Calvin Pickard, They could easily get a D man for Gabe Landeskog or Duchene but they’re not that deep at forward either. They’re definitely in the hunt for the No. 1 pick in the June draft.

• Sam Gagner is the best bargain in the NHL these days: He signed for $650,000 this summer in Columbus and has 10 goals. No tag-days for Gagner though. He’s made about $27 million in his career since signing at 18 with Oilers. The Hawks were sniffing around Gagner, too. Old memories die hard: they obviously remembered that eight-point game Gagner had against them.

• When somebody mentioned good-looking, clothes-horse NHL players, the talk went to Henrik Lundqvist, of course. He’s been on the cover of several mags. “He told me that during the lockout shortened season (2012-2013), he had a different suit for every game (48),” laughed Cam Talbot, his former backup in New York.

GIROUX, VORACEK HELP FLYERS EMERGE FOR SEVENTH STRAIGHT WINClaude Giroux (2-1—3) tied the game and Jakub Voracek (1-3—4) assisted on the go-ahead goal with 1:29 remaining in regulation to help Philadelphia secure its seventh consecutive victory, matching their longest win streak since an equal run from Dec. 2 – 15, 2011.

* The Flyers tied the game on two separate occasions, overcoming deficits of 2-0 and 5-3. Elias notes that Philadelphia won a game in which they erased two multi-goal deficits for the first time in franchise history.

* Down 2-0 in the second period, the Flyers scored three times in a span of 72 seconds to take the lead. Elias notes that it was the fastest trio of goals by Philadelphia since Feb. 14, 2009 when the club scored three times in a span of 67 seconds during the third period of a 5-1 win vs. NYI.

* Voracek (10-18—28) and Giroux (9-19—28) share the team lead – and fourth in the NHL – with 28 points in 29 games this season.

Several governors noted that another shot at the Olympics may not be in the NHL’s best interest.

“I can only speak from myself and from the status of Arizona. First off, I understand the players’ desire to want to be a part of it but from running a business perspective it’s a difficult thing for us,” Arizona Coyotes co-owner Anthony LeBlanc said. “Shutting down for two and a half weeks and for any franchise it’s difficult but it’s even more difficult for us because of the fact, it’s no secret that our prime time so to speak is January onward. Shutting down for close to three weeks and what is arguably our busiest month from a tourism perspective is very, very difficult for us.”

Said Los Angeles Kings president of business operations, Luc Robitaille, “Well, you know, it’s always great to promote the game to go outside, but at the end of the day it’s a lot of the same guys going over and over again and it’s taxing. Sidney Crosby has done a lot for the league and for his country and by the time the next Olympics come he’ll be 31 or 32 and you want to make sure we get the best out of these players for the fans that pay season seats and watch the games on TV in North America. I know it’s not there yet. I know there are going to be a lot of negotiations the next few months but we’ll see what happens.”

Following the first day of the NHL’s board of governors meetings on Thursday afternoon, Bettman said there was “strong negative sentiment” among the league’s owners on NHL players attending the PyeongChang Games in 2018.

Bettman said the belief among some owners was that the Olympics had run their course for the league and hadn’t provided a big picture boost to the league in non-North American locales.

That, along with the brief season shutdown, injury risk and compressed schedule made it unappealing to the league, more so if the IOC refused to cover out-of-pocket expenses as had been suggested by president Thomas Bach.

You've probably noticed, but hockey also isn't the most diverse sport. It also isn't the most popular in North America. It has its huge following in Canada, but many believe the thing that is holding the sport back in the United States is its lack of inclusivity, and that a combination of economics and access to the sport are the main factors explaining why the sport continues to be overwhelmingly white. But community leaders and the NHL have a plan to try and reverse that.

"I think it's about kids here seeing that it's actually possible. They've never seen a hockey stick before," (Jamal) Mayers says. "It's the same principles as any of the 'ball' sports, like soccer and basketball. You're creating two on one's all over the place. It's important that we did this the right way. We can't just put kids on the ice and say 'Let's play hockey.' They have to get comfortable holding a stick."

Even though Mayers, now in his second year as the Blackhawks Community Liaison, grew up in a city with kids from diverse backgrounds, he recognizes how hard it can be for some of those kids to get to a rink. The NHL has footprints in many of America's major cities through their teams, and with new programs, they're trying to bring the game to a wider audience in hopes of growing new fans and also future prospects as well....

NEW YORK (December 8, 2016) -- National Hockey League Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly today released the following statement regarding the office actions issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on
the applications to register the name Vegas Golden Knights:

“We are currently reviewingý the Trademark Office's letter and will prepare a detailed response demonstrating why we continue strongly to believe the Vegas Golden Knights mark should be registered in co-existence with the college registration, just as a number of other nicknames currently co-exist in professional and college sports (particularly where there is no overlap as to the sport for which the nickname is being used). That response is not due until June 7, 2017.

“We consider this a routine matter and it is not our intention to reconsider the name or logo of this franchise. We fully intend to proceed as originally planned, relying on our common law trademark rights as well as our state trademark registrations while we work through the process of addressing the question raised in the federal applications.”